


The Great Suffocation

by Ms_Ice



Series: Family in a Box [2]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M, Gen, Pete's World (Doctor Who)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-06-30 04:43:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19845832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ms_Ice/pseuds/Ms_Ice
Summary: John Tyler, Rose Tyler, and their semi-adopted daughter Jenny find more traces of the so called Anox, a threat they discover is much larger than expected. They find an entire fleet of ships fleeing from places where the Anox have already removed all oxgyen, a fleet still in danger from the new threat.





	The Great Suffocation

**Author's Note:**

> The continuation of the mini-series I started inbetween my main writing projects. Please note I only do a rudimentary edit pass for this project since they're only a side note to my main writing.

“It’s all gone,” John whispered into the comms.

Rose and Jenny and John all stood in their space suits on an almost barren planet, or rather a planetoid supposedly. The TARDIS was right behind them to ensure the lower local gravity didn’t let them float away. Before and all around them were empty buildings and empty streets, like a ghost town on the moon. Rose asked the obvious question first.

“Did the Axon do this?”

Jenny was quick to argue that, “How could they do this? This is an entire planet! It took them most of a day to remove all the air from that station.”

John took out his sonic and scanned the ground. Rose knew if it wasn’t for the required space suit John would be tasting the soil.

“It’s a planetoid, not a full sized planet. Humans just terraformed it. But it was the Anox that de-terraformed it, aaand it took 926 days, to be exact.”

Jenny scoffed at his declaration.

“How could you possibly know that?”

Rose took a second to look around, wanting to catch what he had seen before Jenny did. She thought she had it and she beat John to it.

“There aren’t any bodies around. That means whoever lived here had time to evacuate. If it was previously terraformed that means colonies, not full sized cities. And a smaller ecosystem. Easier for the Anox to overcome.”

“Annnd…?” John added as a hint.

She looked around quickly, as did Jenny. There was something they were both still missing. Jenny started looking at the ground John had scanned, but Rose knew John better. He loved showing off. Suddenly she looked upwards, then tried not to laugh.

High over their heads was a big rotating floating platform, with a huge digital display that read ‘926/-236 DAYS UNTIL COMPLETE OXYGEN DEPLETION’ in big bold green glowing text. Rose smacked John’s arm through their suits as he grinned back at her. Jenny watched them in confusion until Rose pointed upwards.

“Dad. Seriously?”

“What? Not my fault you two didn’t look up.” John paused and his tone darkened before he continued. “But if the Anox did this they’re a much bigger threat than we originally thought.”

“If can find where the survivors went maybe we can get some answers,” suggested Rose.

“Ooo! I know!” answered Jenny. She seemed all too happy to have the answer this time as she ran back into the TARDIS. John and Rose glanced at each other, then shrugged. A moment later Jenny popped her head out.

“You two coming?”

Rose nearly laughed as she and John headed back into the TARDIS.

“She really is your daughter isn’t she?”

“Yeah, she is.”

“You know I can still hear you two, right?”

Rose was still grinning.

“Yep.”

Upon entering that nearly magical bigger-on-the-inside blue box that was their home, they found Jenny, now out of her space suit and wearing her usual camo pants and a tank top, circling the control panel and looking at the controls.

“Dad, tell me the TARDIS can track a signal.”

“Jennnny, of course it can. Just input it over there.”

John motioned towards one of the computer screens, one of many, that their iteration of the TARDIS had generated. Jenny went to it and typed something in, then John flipped a lever nearby. Rose flipped another lever and the diamond shaped crystal full of lights started to pulse. They felt the thrum of the TARDIS and Jenny’s face lit up with wonder again. As Rose took off her spacesuit she decided she agreed with something John once said. With a wide smile he had told her, ‘It never gets old, seeing people’s faces light up as the TARDIS flies through time and space, never knowing what will be outside those doors when it stops.’ Now that the TARDIS was her home, she decided she enjoyed that look too.

All too soon their home landed and Jenny rushed out the door before John could even say her name. He was still trying to get out of his spacesuit and Rose stopped to give him a hand.

“Relax luv. The TARDIS wouldn’t have let her leave if there was a threat.”

“I know that... but still.”

“Come on mister grumpay, let’s catch up before she causes trouble.”

They finished getting him out of his suit and left the TARDIS to see where their daughter had taken them. The answer, as it turned out, was a spaceship. A human one even. Jenny saw them and ran over with a brown haired girl her visual age in tow.

“Dad, mum, this is Tyra. She’s the head tech from station Kelort, where we first met the Anox. She helped me lead the evacuation.”

John waved but he seemed more interested in something else, looking around as if trying to find something. “Nice to meet you. How many ships do you have?”

Tyra raised an eyebrow slightly, “Welcome aboard the Kilio…”

When John ignored the tech’s greeting she frowned before switching gears. Instead she headed towards a wall as she answered his question anyways.

“Just two from Kelort station. But total in the convoy? Eighty or so.” She opened a panel on the wall to reveal a window out into space.

Starships. Fifty or so all in view at the moment. Human ships. A dozen different types of alien ships, some with their lights blinking among the stars in the dark void of space. All gathered together and headed the same direction. Rose asked first.

“What happened?”

Tyra went stiff as she recalled something before answering.

“They’re calling it the Great Suffocation. Ships, stations, anywhere with oxygen is being drained. Individual ships don’t usually make it once hit, but stations and planetoids usually manage to evacuate. It seems to bypass the bigger planets though, so that’s where everyone is headed.”

“Why travel together though?” asked Jenny.

“Because if one ship gets hit they can try to evac to the others, then we blow up the ship. We’ve lost three ships already.”

John was frowning and Rose took his hand. She knew he wanted to do something as he spoke up.

“We found a way to slow them but has anyone learned what they are yet?”

“You can slow them? How?!”

Tyra’s response was so shocked and hopeful it dashed their hopes for an easy answer. Rose knew he was looking for that missing bit of information that could help them. His frown only deepened.

“I’ll take that as a no. Jenny do you want to show them?”

“Right on it pops!”

“Pops? Really? That makes me sound so old.”

Jenny wasn’t paying him any more attention as she was already heading off with Tyra.

Rose leaned over and whispered to John, “Don’t worry, I know you’re still only a teenager.”

“Oh hush you,” he whispered back with a grin. “You just like being a cougar.”

She made a mock expression of being offended and swatted his arm hard. It was an old game they played, since he had only been cloned a bit over a decade ago.

“So I’m an old lady huh?” she countered

“Yeah, but you’re my old lady.”

“Did you hear what just came out of your mouth?”

“Yeeeaah, that didn’t come out the way I intended. How about we go see how Jenny’s doing…”

“That might be smart mister Shakespeare.”

“You know he hit on me, right?”

“Move it buster.”

Rose gave John a push and they headed the direction Jenny and Tyra had gone.

“It’s not strong enough,” answered Jenny.

She, Rose, John, Tyra, the captain of the Kilio and his comms aide, plus a military guard, were all packed around the scanning computer on the bridge. Tyra heard what Jenny said and exploded angrily.

“What do you mean it’s not strong enough?! We’ve diverting as much power as can. Anymore and we’ll suffocate without the Anox’s help!”

John cut in with a hint of anger and frustration they all shared, “It took your space station scanners, the medbay scanners, and two sonic screwdrivers just to clear one room of the Anox. The only way it’ll work is with every ship in this convoy scanning at once.”

The communications aide, whose name Rose didn’t remember, spoke up in Tyra’s defense.

“Like we told you earlier Doctor, half these ships won’t even communicate with us. They just copy us when we open fire on an abandoned ship.”

Rose glanced at John’s face when the man called him Doctor. John had accidentally slipped and introduced himself as the Doctor earlier. She supposed old habits died hard under stress. He was quick to snap back at the comms officer.

“If you have a better idea speak up, because the only way this convoy is going to survive is together.”

There was a moment of tense silence before Tyra spoke up.

“Run the energy simulation again.”

John threw his hands into the air and stormed off, Rose following as she motioned silently for Jenny to help Tyra. Jenny nodded and focused on the sim the chief crew were running again.

Once John and Rose reached an unoccupied side room John went off.

“Why do you humans have to be so thick headed!? You’d rather die than extend a hand in friendship first!”

“John. You’re half human now. And you can be just as thick.”

“Oh don’t you-”

“Christmas two years ago with Pete,” she interrupted him to say.

“That wasn’t my-”

She glared at him and he paused before trying again.

“He started it. Besides, that was just once.”

“Misses Pigins down the street.”

“It’s not my fault that old biddy can’t mind her own business.”

“John, I love you but give it up. I bet you haven’t even realized what you and Tyra are both missing.”

“I… what? I’m not missing anything.”

Rose rolled her eyes before trying again.

“Joooohn. Do all aliens speak?”

“Of course not! The Fraries of Fantasy seven communicate through light. They’re really beautiful on summer nights. Then there’s the… ohhhh..”

Rose smiled as she watched the figurative light bulb light up over his head.

“Rose Tyler I love you. You’re a genius.”

John bent down and gave her a long hard kiss on the lips before running back to the command room. She laughed softly at his ridiculousness before following with a little extra swagger to her walk. He was already talking fast when she joined him.

“Tyra how did you try to communicate with the other ships?”

“What?” Tyra paused as she looked up from the current simulation they were running.

“How did you try to communicate with the other ships?” John repeated slower.

The comms officer answered instead, “All standard galactic emergency channels.”

John shifted tactics.

“Do you know what attracts the Anox?”

Tyra answered that question angrily.

“No Doctor, we don’t. Otherwise we’d stop doing it!”

“What if you thought it was the comm channels?”

“Then we’d…”

Recognition lit up all three crew members faces, as well as Jenny’s. The captain beat everyone to the punch as he looked quickly to the comms officer.

“Then we’d go absolute silent to avoid detection! Officer Uru-”

“Already on it captain!” answered the comms officer even as he was already typing madly at his console. “Switching to holo projection and light pulse communication methods.”

The captain was grinning with hope.

“Burn them big and bright officer. We need to make sure the whole convoy realizes it. Once you get confirmation that they’re responding let me know. We have a method of defense finally.” He turned to John and Rose before continuing, “Thank you Doctor. You may have just saved us all.”

“I couldn’t have done it without my wife.”

John put an arm around Rose as he smiled down at her and she returned the expression, “You would have figured it out. Eventually.”

They both grinned and Jenny came over to hug them, beaming with joy at her parents. After a moment they broke up and John put on a more serious expression as he looked to Tyra, the captain and officer Uru.

“Once you make contact ask for the location of every sighting of the Anox. Even if they weren’t sure if it was the Anox, I want to know about it.”

The captain nodded, “Understood Doctor.”

Together they headed back towards the TARDIS.

“Do you really think that’ll be enough,” Rose asked John as they walked through the Kilio’s corridors.

“No. But it’s a start. I just wish we knew what the Anox are! It’s obvious they want our oxygen, but why? Why pierce the dimensional barrier for oxygen? Lots of planets have it. Why steal it from ships in space?”

Jenny shrugged.

“Maybe it’s an attack. I mean like biological warfare.”

“But to what end? They’re attacking every species without prejudice. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

Suddenly an alarm sounded throughout the Kilio. John barely glanced around before reversing and running back towards the bridge, Rose and Jenny on each side of him. As soon as they reached it John went straight to the comm station where officer Uru was frantically typing again.

“What happened?”

The captain looked tense as he was leaning forward in his chair to see all the monitors.

“Our oxygen just dropped two percent. And five of the ships we just made contact with reported drops as well.”

“Captain Torifo, Officer Uru, you need to listen to me very carefully. We need to immediately get all the ships, the entire convoy, as close as possible. And I mean so close you can reach out the window and touch the next ship’s hull. Everyone’s scanners are all going to have to scan everyone else’s ships all at once. Understood?”

The captain glanced at Uru and Tyra before nodding, “Loud and clear Doctor.”

John looked at their combined crew and nodded, “Good. Now Uru I need you to communicate with every ship, all of them. I need to know their maximum scanning ranges, strengths, and frequencies. I don’t care if it’s through the comms or through a flashlight shining out the window, we need that info now.”

Officer Uru barely gave a glance at the captain before nodding, “Yes sir!”

John looked at Jenny next.

“Can you help Tyra get their scanners set?”

“On it!” Jenny grabbed Tyra and they headed towards the tech’s station where they’d been running simulations earlier.

“Once that’s done get the directions out to the rest of the convoy.” 

John looked to Rose next, “I need you to take the science station. As Uru gives you the numbers from the other ships you need to figure out how to arrange the ships so everyone can scan everyone else.”

“Puzzle solving. Got it.”

He grinned widely at his wife and she grinned at her husband, they would never admit it but they both lived for this stuff.

“Alright! Mon capitan you’re on comm duty number two. Uru gets the info, Rose calculates it, and you send out the orders to each ship on where to move.”

“What are you going to do Doctor?” the captain asked, beating both Rose and Jenny to the punch.

“I’m going to play decoy and buy you lot some time.”

Rose grabbed John and kissed him before he got away, whispering softly to him alone, “You be careful you hear? I’m not raising a child alone.”

“I’ll be back. I promise.”

They parted and Rose sat back down at the science station.

“Alright Officer Uru, give me what ya got. And get the ships already losing oxygen first. ”

“Yes ma’am!”

Rose would have liked to say the next few hours had gone by quickly. In actuality they had gone by so slowly she had considered using the TARDIS to travel into the future, just to get it over with. She and the crew spent the time coordinating eighty starships into very specific patterns, ensuring their scanners overlapped as much as possible. All the while John used the TARDIS to tow a highly compressed airtank as a distraction for the Anox. No one had asked where, or when, he had obtained the tank from, but it had worked.

Eventually all the ships were in place per Rose’s directions, and everyone’s scanners were on alternating frequencies per Jenny. Each ship scanned as many other ships as it could, with lots of overlapping to account for the different frequencies. By the time they were done the Anox were gone. As one last step John used the airtank to replenish the ships that had lost the most oxygen before materializing back inside the Kilio’s freight bay.

Rose and Jenny and the Kilio’s crew met him as he opened the TARDIS door. Jenny ran up to hug him first, despite his sudden hand motion warning her away. As soon as she reached him a bolt of electricity zapped her, causing her to cry out in pain and pull back even as John jerked back as well. Rose ran up and caught Jenny as John apologized.

“Sorry, she picked up a bit of a charge passing too close to the Zork’s shields. Give her a second.”

Rose smiled and walked up to touch the TARDIS. She didn’t get shocked and she caressed the blue fake wood.

“You okay luv? Did he drive you a bit too close?”

Jenny pointed accusingly at Rose.

“Dad! Why didn’t mum get shocked then?”

John smiled a little.

“She’s always liked Rose better. It’s a bit of a long story though. Anyways, everyone onboard. We’ve got a date with the Anox.”

Rose slipped past John and into the TARDIS, calling out, “I’m driving this time!” as she headed to the console.

Jenny followed her as Tyra approached John.

“Doctor… what are we going to do now?”

John smiled.

“Keep up your scanning until you reach a planet. Then explore! There’s always a new world waiting to be found out there. We’re going to see a man about the Anox.”

“Good luck Doctor.”

“Please, the name is John. John Tyler.”

He closed the door behind him as he headed for another console inside the TARDIS. Already their home was starting to dematerialize with Rose at the helm. He spun one of the wheels and pushed a series of buttons before looking to Rose.

“Follow the signal I already fed into the TARDIS. I found where the Anox came from. And Jenny, I think you were right. They’re a weapon.”


End file.
